Trenton Farmers Market celebrates another summer with fresh, local fruits and vegetables

“How are ya, Susanne?” Jack Ball said as he walked through the Trenton Farmers Market, which he manages. It’s his favorite part of his job, he said — talking to his employees and customers.

Ball has been managing the market in Lawrence with his wife, Marcia, since 1980, and they are responsible for “anything and everything that happens,” he said.

But what makes the Trenton Farmers Market stand out from others in the area, Ball said, is that it has, by far, been around the longest.

In the early 1900s, a group of about 200 farmers came by horse and buggy to the Trenton area to sell their produce. They set up a market along what is now Route 29, near where Rho nightclub now stands.

“The farmers wanted to have a place where they could both retail and wholesale their food and they wanted to bring in their food and their produce to the city,” Ball said.

In the anticipation of the construction of Route 29, however, the farmers integrated into The Trenton Market Growers Co-op Association and purchased land on Spruce Street in Lawrence in 1939.

In June 1948, the market opened at the Spruce Street location, where it has been running for 66 years.

“It started with the farmers and then it just expanded to things beyond the farmers,” Ball said. “We have some farmers here that are second or third generation.”

The market has changed in appearance since then, Ball said. When the market first opened at its current location, it consisted of three parallel narrow rectangular buildings, one of which stood where Halo Farms is now located. Later, two of those buildings were put together to form the T-shaped building customers recognize today.

Susanne Specca, a farmer from Cedarville Farms in Robbinsville, is a third-generation farmer. She was “practically born on the farm,” she said, and has been working since the age of 3.

Specca’s grandfather, who also was a farmer, was on the Trenton Farmers Market Board of Directors and sold produce at the market when it was located by the river.

“It was the only one around,” Specca said, referring to why her family chose to sell their farm’s produce at the Trenton Farmers Market.

Another unique feature of the market, according to Ball, is that farmers can only sell what they grow and raise on their own farms.

“What you’re buying here is without a doubt Jersey Fresh and picked only hours before it’s purchased. It terms of freshness and quality, there is none better,” Ball said.

Lauren Sabogal opened Button’s Creperie at the farmers market about 2½ years ago. It’s the first time she’s owned a business, and she likes that she has support from other vendors.

“It’s my first time ever owning something. I can learn what I need from the farmers and I can support the farmers,” she said. “If I run out of something I can walk down the hallway — it’s very convenient.”

The increase in the price of gas has recently affected the market, Ball said. Vendors from Philadelphia, New York and different Shore areas used to travel to the market several times a week, but gas prices have slowed down people traveling. Gas prices and newer farmers markets have also affected the number of customers who come to the area, Ball said.

“In the long run, fortunately we have our truly dedicated customers that have been shopping here for many, many years,” he said. “I talk to so many people who have shopped here with their moms and dads and they continue the tradition as adults and continue to shop here.”

To Ball, the Trenton Farmers Market is a landmark, and it’s been of great value to Trenton and surrounding communities.

“In this day and age it’s nice to know where your food is coming from, and to know that it’s coming from local farms I think is a definite plus,” he said.